


Rusted Nails

by EveningRose309



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Based Of That One Scene In Hannibal, Bullying, Characters Killing Characters By Pulling Nails Out Of Their Heads, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Dead animals, GUYS, Graphic Depiction Of Murder Via Nail In The Head, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Murder, Murder Husbands, actually this whole ficlet is ispired by hannibal and hannigram, also forgot the, i mean like Newt Snaps, i won't say what, mentions of abuse, mentions of cannibals, mentions of torture, not even remotely as dark as Nachtkrap tho, still gonna put the tag, this is another drk thing, well animal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:53:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21804715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EveningRose309/pseuds/EveningRose309
Summary: Professor Dumbledore drives Newt up to the house on the hill. What Newt finds has some rather disturbing results.
Relationships: Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald, Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald/Newt Scamander
Comments: 6
Kudos: 51





	Rusted Nails

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Reina1505](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reina1505/gifts).



The drive to Carousel Point was a grueling one. Newt couldn't count on neither hands nor toes combined the number of times they'd run into something and he'd almost been thrown out of his seat. He was glad he wasn't sitting in the back. 

"Professor," he winced as they hit another bump. Why on earth would anyone have a road like this? On this hill, to have a house on the peak, yet a finitely bumpy road that winded and curved like a coiled snake? 

In truth Newt knew the answer. He just didn't want to acknowledge it. 

Beside him his professor was having just as bad a time. Newt could only imagine the nightmare that was driving on this sort of ground, and he wasn't even the one driving. 

"Just a little more, Newt," somehow Dumbledore was smiling. "Don't worry, this'll all be worth it when we get there." 

"What exactly is _there_ , Professor?" 

Dumbledore didn't answer. Newt felt the seat belt dig into his chest. He hugged his bag a little harder. 

He should have been happy. This should have been a good day for him. The sun was shining and the winds were down. He should have been at the university, out back, having his lunch with the stray cats and pigeons by the old crooked bench. Grimmson had been absent from class these past few days and Newt had been hoping, without his bully around, that he could get to writing his assignment papers in peace, maybe even spend a few hours on the library computers, of which were almost always being hogged by the taller man's crew. Leta would be furious, if she knew, that the older boy was still taunting Newt even after they'd graduated high school. 

_"I'll never leave you Scamander,"_ he'd teased menacingly. _"Your little girlfriend might, but I never will."_

And to Newt's horror, he'd made good on that promise. 

"Something on your mind Newt?" Newt bit his lip. Leave it to his professor to know exactly the state of Newt's mind. He liked Dumbledore, valued him a lot, even, perhaps, maybe, as a friend. 

Newt sighed. "My papers."

"Ah. What about them? I thought you were almost done."

_I was._

"I am, but…"

But Grimmson had poured water on his laptop last week. And though he had a copy of his assignment on a harddrive, he couldn't use the library computers and neither could he the one at home. Theseus used that one, almost exclusively, for his cases and had installed it into his room for better access. Newt didn't feel comfortable asking his brother, since that in itself would spark questions as to why he needed it in the first place. Theseus would tear Grimmson apart if he found out, and though Newt- secretly, discreetly -entertained the prospect, his brother was a detective and Newt didn't want him getting suspended for some silly squabble. 

Dumbledore said no more. Newt was grateful. A part of him didn't want to divulge the professor on his problems. Dumbledore wouldn't do anything- at least, nothing as drastic as Theseus -but the ways the professor would discreetly make his distaste for a person known would only drive Grimmson to torment Newt further. 

_"So you sent you Daddy after me, did you Scamander?"_

And Newt couldn't have that. 

As they reached the summit, dread began to seep in with Newt's anxiety. A house- no, a _manor_ , was coming into view, tall black gates and outer wall as menacing as they were beautiful. Ivy, Newt could just make out, was creeping down those walls, draping them, almost as if to hide them, hide the gold trimmings and beastly heads peeping out of the stone and iron. As the car drew closer, Newt felt as if those heads were watching him. 

The house had been purchased, Newt believed, sometime when he was freshman. He could remember Theseus complaining about how the construction crews would hog all the donuts at Honeydukes. Newt himself didn't think much of it. Carousel Point had been a barren place and the old rickety mansion that had once stood there was, admittedly, in desperate need of a renovation. Nothing grew there, at least, until Newt was a senior, and he'd begun to notice some trees growing at the peak where before there'd been none and the pitch silhouette of a terrible mansion stood where the old one had crumbled. Newt had never seen the owner of the house though, in fact, no one did really. All anyone ever saw was the sleek black BMW hybrid that drove down it every weekend. 

When they reached the gates, Newt saw that they were very, very tall and their thick bars were painted a tarnished gold. Newt could see inside the yard, gravel groundwork and a small patch of grassy island bordered with stone and covered in flower bushes. It eased him, somewhat, to see that patch of color, and he felt less anxious when the gates pulled back as Dumbledore drove them inside. 

"Wait here," his professor said, smiling wider now, as Newt exited the car. "I'm just going inside for a bit. A friend of mine is waiting inside, though he has a habit of letting himself drown in his work, so I'm just going to call him up."

Newt nodded slightly. "Who is he?"

Now the smile turned to a full on grin as Dumbledore clasped Newt's hands. 

"You're going to love him Newt," he said, eyes soft with a note Newt couldn't place. "You'll love him. He is a bit…off at first, but you'll warm up to him, you'll see."

His eyes tracked his professor as the other man near skipped to the manor's double doors. The sight felt…strange to Newt. He'd never seen his professor this giddy. _Happy_ , and not in the 'wistful smiles in the corridor' or the 'you've just completed something you wanted and I'm proud of you' sort of way. This was an odd look of 'happy'. A purer look, genuine, but also somehow…unsettling. 

Newt chided himself, shaking his head. The professor was probably just glad to see his friend. Dumbledore rarely ever stepped outside of campus after all, and was probably in need of some other form of human interaction outside of his students and the other staff. 

Still, there was something there. Something off about the man's smile earlier as he'd told Newt to come with him after his classes were done. Something in his gaze, nothing short of manic, excited. 

Newt sighed. There he went over analyzing again, seeing things that weren't there. He'd have to stop doing that too often. He was already stressed as it was, what with the paper situation, he didn't need anymore-

He almost missed the sound of a wood gate slamming when he felt something collide into his side. 

His heart wrenched when he realized who it was. 

"Scamander!" Newt winced as Grimmson shouted, pinning Newt to the car by his arms in a vice grip. 

"Grimmson…" the other boy was bleeding, was practically soaked in blood, skin raw where Newt could glimpse welts on his chest. His shirt was gone and he smelt like a meat shop. 

"Newt!" he rasped desperately. "Newt, you have to help me. You have to get them out Newt! I can't run with them in there! I need to get out! Please, you have to help me-"

"G-get what out?" Newt stuttered. His heart was racing, but something else was there along side it, something cold, something-

Grimmson growled. "Are you blind!? Can't your shoddy green eyes see the nails in my head!? Are you that retarded!?"

_Shoddy green eyes_. 

_Retarded_. 

Newt froze. He went rigid. There was- something chipped. Something hard and frigid. It shattered and the pieces of it sank into his chest. Twisting and twisting-

Newt suddenly felt very, very numb. 

"Newt? Scamander? Look, I- I'm sorry. Just helped get these out and I'll-"

"Alright," he answered, slowly. "Alright, I'll help you Grimmson."

"Thank you!" the bleeding body sobbed. "Thank you, you won't regret it! They're- they're here see! Now just- put your fingers- like that, that's it-"

As Grimmson bent his head, the world around him seemed to fade. He felt cold but oddly calm, though his heart was pounding relentlessly in his chest. Newt could hardly seem to register his own movements as his fingers came to brush the rusted, coiling nails that seemed to sprout from his bully's clotted scalp. 

His bully. Grimmson. The boy who'd tormented him since they were children. Who'd made his life miserable-

"Newt- Newt hurry! He'll be coming! He knows I've gone and-"

He'd been eleven, Newt thought, the first time Grimmson made him bleed. There'd been a kitten, Newt remembered, that he'd just fished out of a gutter. He'd walking home, after school, cradling it in his arms to stop it from freezing, when Gunnar Grimmson and his goons had jumped him and ripped the poor thing from Newt's grasp. 

_"You're hopeless Scamander!"_ the older boy laughed as he beat Newt, kicking him, as he held the crying creature over his head. _"Can't even take care of yourself. What'chu gonna do with a kitten, huh?"_

Newt had cried. All the way home he had cried and sobbed. The very next day, he found a box on his porch. A bloody, battered blue shoe box- 

"Newt!"

-with a note on it. _To Retard Salamander_ -

"Hurry Scamander!"

-and the kitten. That small, tiny little kitten with it's blue eyes and honey brown paws-

"Scamander!"

-poked through with a dozen, rusted, bent, construction nails. 

"Scaman-"

Newt hardly felt it when he pulled both nails out with a twist of his hand. 

He felt nothing at all when the body of his tormentor collapsed and thudded onto the bloody gravel. 

\-------

"Marvelous, isn't it?"

Albus smiled wistfully at his lover as he gazed out the window. 

"Yes, yes it is," he purred. "Though I have to ask, why nails?"

Gellert shrugged. "Wanted to try out something different. A friend of mine recommended it. Most people wouldn't think to leave the nail inside of the head if they wanted to live. It seems our friend was one of them."

Albus frowned a little at that. 

"Do you mean Newt?"

His lover chuckled. 

"Is that the name of the beautiful creature you just left in front of my doorstep? No, I mean that absolute pig you had me torture for three days. An absolute waste of brains. Fortunately, your little pet doesn't seem to share his illusions. The contrary, if what I'm seeing is right, he seems quite aware."

_Yes_ , Albus thought, it seemed he was. Newt had always been one of his brighter ones. Hampered down by his peers, especially that Grimmson. Albus had never been too fond of the brute, he knew how much the boy enjoyed tormenting his favorite student. Theseus was kind and a good enough brother, but frankly, too blunt and would only cause Newt more harm if he'd dealt with Grimmson his way. They'd needed something subtle, more permanent. 

He'd been glad when Gellert called and invited him to dinner. It had given Albus the chance to introduce Newt and get rid of the cumbersome beast all at once. 

"We should bring them in soon," he said. "Wouldn't want Newt to get cold."

Gellert nodded, then removed himself from the glass he'd been tracing his fingers over. Tracing _Newt_. The thought made Albus smile. 

"I'll run a bath for him," his lover said, climbing up the stairs. "He'll want to be rid of all that filth. Then we'll get the body and I'll start on dinner."

"Splendid idea," he answered, starting towards the door. "Do you still have any of my clothes? I'm afraid I haven't brought any change for either of us."

" _Darling_ ," Albus shuddered, the purr of Gellert's voice weakening his knees. "Of course I've kept your clothes. We've never any use for them, but I keep them nonetheless."

He swallowed. "Th-thank you."

"You're welcome dear", and Albus breathed a sigh of relief as his lover made off for the guest rooms. The nerve of that man, always making him want at the most inopportune of times. 

Shaking his head, reached for the doors, a smile on his lips. _Not yet Albus, you still have a student outside, waiting for you, and a body that needs skinning. A possibly traumatized student too, but that'll all be made better by dinner time_. 

He chuckled. _Dinner time_. Dinner and Gellert and Newt at the table. Such a wonderful thought, a wonderful wonderful thought. It almost seemed like a dream. 

He could hardly wait for it to come true. 


End file.
